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8 months ago
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No doubt plenty of travelling NUFC fans will be looking to pick up a souvenir Blackburn v Newcastle matchday programme to add to their collection.
Good luck with that one.
Anybody who has a Blackburn v Newcastle matchday programme from the 4-2 FA Cup third round replay win on 15 January 2019 (after a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park) should treasure it.
It will be the last programme you will ever pick up when visiting Ewood Park.
Ahead of the 2021/22 season, Blackburn Rovers announced (see below) that they would no longer be printing matchday programmes.
Along with a number of other lower division clubs, Blackburn saying they were stopping doing so as it was not commercially viable.
So it is now almost three years since anybody was able to buy a Blackburn Rovers home programme.
For many football fans, especially those with a few miles on the clock, a little part of you dies when you hear stuff like this, buying a matchday programme part of the every game ritual for so many supporters.
Looking from the outside, I can kind of understand why Blackburn Rovers and others have done this, up to a point. You understand if doing a programme is losing a club a few quid BUT at the same time, any losses would be minimal even for a second tier club such as Blackburn compared to their overall financial issues.
I also think that surely there must be room for an enterprising outsider to approach Blackburn Rovers and offer to publish a programme for one-off matches such as this Newcastle United one. The club having to sign off on the content priced by the outsider and a few quid paid by the enterprising outsider to Blackburn in return for being allowed to publish a programme. A win win surely, as a large number of the 7,200+ Newcastle fans would have bought one tonight, plus if only done so often, I would think the novelty / rarity factor would mean more Blackburn fans likely to buy one as well, compared to the average sales that led to Rovers stop doing them.
In the absence of a printed Blackburn v Newcastle match programme tonight, the home side each game produce a ‘Digital Match Supplement’ instead, which at some point will appear here to view.
Blackburn Rovers official statement ahead of the 2021/22 season:
“Rovers recognise that buying a programme is part of the matchday experience for some supporters, however despite concerted efforts over recent years to increase its appeal, sales have dropped significantly to the point that it is no longer commercially viable.
“As we move into a new digital era, the club is eager to produce more engaging content across our popular social media platforms, as well as our new website, App and Rovers TV subscription service, and we hope the new monthly magazine will appeal to both collectors and our wider fanbase as a whole.”

 
